


Theseus and Lycomedes

by h_mellohi



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Anarchist Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Bedrock Bros, Dream Team SMP Spoilers, Gen, Memories, Reflection, Regret, Self-Reflection, Technoblade-centric (Video Blogging RPF), i miss them fuck i miss tommy and techno duo so much help, no beta we die like the partnership between tommy and techno
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28584633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/h_mellohi/pseuds/h_mellohi
Summary: L'manburg was always going to fall with or without Tommy's help. Only now, Technoblade will bring Tommy down with it.Or, the story of Theseus and King Lycomedes. Heroes don't get any happy endings.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Technoblade & TommyInnit (Dream SMP)
Comments: 38
Kudos: 245





	Theseus and Lycomedes

**Author's Note:**

> i miss the bedrock bros i miss them so much we're never going to see them again im so sad.  
> anyways hope u enjoy lol

The forthcoming day loomed before Techno, stretching up into the stars and hanging there, twinkling over him. Phil was sleeping peacefully in the room below him, and Techno had taken care to stay quiet as he crept out his window to sit on his roof. Tomorrow, it would be him, Phil, and, unexpectedly, Dream, who would bring down their revenge and fury upon L’manburg, the government, and every citizen who dared oppose them. 

Including Tommy. 

Techno lay back on the roof of his cabin, gloved hands behind his head and stared up at the stars, which looked down upon him in constellations he recognized as the tragic heroes of the stories he had grown up learning about.

|||

_“So, what’s your deal with the story of Theseus again? I don’t get it.”_

_Tommy sat slouched next to him, having followed Techno up on the roof shortly after he had arrived. Techno didn’t ask questions, not when the reason they were avoiding sleep was a similar one._

_Techno sighed, undisguised annoyance in his tone. “I’ve told you this so many times, Tommy. How awful is your memory?”_

_“No, I mean, I get the exile thing, kind of. But I don’t get what happens after, how is that still like me?”_

_Techno stretched his arms back, spine cracking a bit as he turned to look at Tommy. “Not everything about the myth has to be a direct parallel to you, Tommy.”_

_“Well, will you tell me anyways?” Tommy’s voice went quiet, staring evenly out at the stars with his arms wrapped around his knees. “Just to, you know, pass some time?”_

_Techno felt an understanding smile begin to grow on his lips. It took him a minute to find the point in the story where he wanted to begin, but eventually he exhaled and said, “When I said Theseus died alone, that wasn’t the full story. Even what I’m about to say right now may not be the actual story, you could consult a hundred different texts of this and find fifty different interpretations to how Theseus died.”_

_Tommy’s brows were furrowed. “Well then what one are you going to tell me? How do you know if it’s the right one?”_

_“I don’t,” Technoblade said simply. “I’m just telling you the story I know.”_

_“Oh. Well, alright then.”_

_“After Theseus was forced into exile, he ended up seeking refuge in Scyros, which was an island in the Aegean— well, you don’t really care about actual geography, so it doesn’t matter where the island is. What matters is that Scyros was under the rule of King Lycomedes. Now, Lycomedes is a guy who’s been in a couple of other stories, Anchilles hid out in his palace once, I- I think he fought with him, maybe? Any- Anyways, the point stands that Theseus ended up in Lycomedes’ palace after his exile.”_

_Tommy laughed shortly, shoulders rising and falling. “Guess that makes you kind of like Lyco- Lyco whatever, ey? Since I’m the one who was in exile, and you let me in your— well, not palace, that’s for sure, but, well, it’s kind of like that, right?”_

_It fell silent for a moment, the parallels seeping into Techno’s mind, poisoning the story on his lips before he had even finished telling it. “I haven’t finished the story,” he repeated._

_“Well, go on then, finish it.”_

_“Alright. Well, some of the versions of the tale say that Theseus slipped from a cliff, that he accidentally fell from a high place and died, or drowned.” There was an uncomfortable feeling in Techno’s gut as the parallels continued to run down his spine._

_“And your version?” Tommy tipped his head, staring directly at Techno, exhausted eyes wide and watching._

_Another stretch of silence, but the hesitation in Techno’s mind couldn’t be louder. “In the version I’m familiar with, it’s Lycomedes who throws Theseus off the cliff,” he said, as succinct as he could, sitting up and resting his chin on his knees. No point in lying to him, better to get it out there before Tommy got any other ideas._

_Tommy blinked, then frowned, voice rising in indignation. “What? Why, what?”_

_“He was afraid of Theseus’ power,” Techno explained calmly, ignoring how his fingers dug into the fabric around his ankles. “Everyone at his palace treated his guest with so much respect that I guess Lycomedes worried that Theseus would try to dethrone him. So he got rid of him, by pushin’ him off a cliff.”_

_“Oh. Well maybe Lyco-man is more like Dream then. He’s afraid of my power, that green bastard. He did- he did all that terrible stuff to me, you know, he might as well have tried to throw me off a cliff as well.” Tommy’s grin was sharp and wide, but Techno didn’t return it. “Either way, I reckon you’re not Lycomedes. You don’t have a palace, and you wouldn’t throw me off a cliff for anything right Techno?” Eyes wide, earnest, trusting entirely._

_A trust that Techno was slowly starting to return._

_“Yeah, Tommy. As long as you help me with L’manburg, the two of us will stay far away from any cliffs that could lead to your untimely death.”_

_“Yes!” Tommy punched the air, a wild and free laugh escaping his chest. “I won’t be like Theseus, bitch! I’ll live, bitch! No cliffs for me.”_

_Techno finally joined in on the laughter, a rumble in his chest as he partook in the humor that seemed to spill endlessly from Tommy on his best days._

_“So, tomorrow, huh?” Tommy said, voice slipping back into the somber tone that accompanied the actions prepared for the upcoming festival._

_“Tomorrow,” Techno agreed, laying back down on the roof with his gloved hands behind his head. “You and me, Theseus. Tomorrow, L’manburg falls.”_

|||

The roof was a lot lonelier without Tommy’s cackling laughter filling the space that Techno’s silence left empty. He exhaled, watching his breath float into the air and dissipate in the cold. The longer the silence sat without memories to fill it, the more that aching pain throbbed in Techno’s chest, deeper than any weapon could have pierced him through his armor. It was the pain of betrayal, broken trust, and shattered vulnerability. 

He had given Tommy everything. Built him back up from nothing, promised him something no one else had, to get his discs back, as long as Tommy helped him destroy L’manburg. That wasn’t too much to ask, was it? Not from the guy who had been ousted by that country twice, once by his tyrant of a best friend of all people.

Well. For all the bonding that Tommy claimed they had gone through, apparently it hadn’t been enough to override Tommy’s blind, idiotic trust in Tubbo. It hadn’t been enough to get him to overthrow the country that had been nothing but brutal to him, but it hardly mattered anymore.

If Tommy wanted to stand and die for that country again, he would. Techno had already seen the army of people Tommy had gathered, shockingly quickly. For all the moping the kid had done about how no one liked him, no one had visited him, he sure had spoken persuasively and rallied almost everyone to his command, just like that. That was dangerous. 

Though Techno had never spoken outwardly about his respect toward Tommy right until the end, he would have been a fool not to recognize the power that Tommy held. He hadn’t been bluffing when he said that Dream was scared of him. That kid had a spine stronger than netherite when he was at his best, and a stubborn streak that inspired and terrified anyone and everyone around him. That too, was dangerous. 

_“Don’t you see history repeating itself?”_

His words from an earlier time floated back to him, ringing much more vivid now.

_“I won’t be like Theseus, bitch!”_

Tommy’s laughter echoed in the dark, a phantom memory underneath the same stars.

Betrayal twisted into sorrow and fury as Techno sat up, crouching on his heels with his forearms resting on his knees. A shaky exhale left his lips, mouth tasting of sour regret.

Tomorrow, Lycomedes would cast Theseus off that cliff, in view of all of those who blindly followed his charisma and charm. Tomorrow, Technoblade would take Tommy by the throat, dangle him over the crater that his withers had created, and watch the final spark of defiance finally fade from Tommy’s eyes as he took his final fall, along with the rest of L’manburg.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! im terrified for tomorrow.  
> find me on twitter at @sbimellohi if you'd like to chat more!  
> comments and kudos greatly appreciated mwah <3


End file.
